The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation
by GothKat2SlashFan
Summary: [OLD, BADLY WRITTEN, AND DISCONTINUED. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.] Refers to Umbridge, Harry and England. England's having some trouble with Voldemort, and decides to take the History of Magic post to 'protect' Harry. The other nations decide to follow. Chaos ensues. Set in OoTP.
1. Prologue: Decisions, decisions

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: The story begins, as with most Hetalia fanfictions, in the World Conference room. But hopefully, what happens next isn't as normal.**

**10/3/11: Beta version has been uploaded!**

England sighed. "And that's really all we can do." The usual yelling, arguments and general mayhem of the World Conference room was missing- instead, everyone looked tense and worried. Even the usually carefree Italy was looking worried, and Greece was actually awake and paying attention.

America broke the silence. "Well, we'll just follow you, then!"

England looked taken aback. "B-but I just said that-"

"Yeah, I know. But what're you gonna do without the hero there?" America cut in.

England looked affronted now. "Of course I-" He was interrupted as the doors of the Conference Room banged open.

"Sorry we're late what did we miss?" Atlantis blurted out quickly, Madagascar, Cape Verde and several other (female) nations behind her.

"Where've you been?" America asked, as Madagascar slid into the seat beside him.

"Oh- well we were having a girl's sl-" Atlantis replied, abruptly being cut of by Madagascar saying loudly:

"_SO_, what've we missed?"

America grinned, knowing he'd get the information out of her later, but told her, "Well, Artie here told us that-" At the nickname, England's expression turned darker and he muttered, "I told you to stop calling me that!" but America took no notice and continued talking. "-he's going to Hogwarts, you know, the magic school? He's going there to teach as History of Magic professor, and to protect that kid- what was his name again? Barry Putter? Something like that. Anyways, he's going to protect the kid and to stop Moldyshorts or something from-"

At this point, Atlantis, who also wanted to know what was going on, said, "Wait, wait, slow down. England's going to Hogwarts to protect Harry from Voldemort, is that it?"

America nodded, being unable to speak since he'd begun munching on a hamburger that he'd pulled out of nowhere (as usual.) "Yeah, *MUNCH MUNCH* and we're not *MUNCH* by himself, and *MUNCH MUNCH* do to stop him!"

"What?" Madagascar and Atlantis exclaimed at the same time. Being close friends, it was no wonder they'd both thought the same thing, although they might have used telepathy, something they were capable of using, usually to freak others out. (And since Madagascar and America were currently boyfriend-girlfriend, Atlantis spent a little more time around America, and consequently managed to understand him a little better. However, besides America himself, the only one who could completely understand what he was saying was Madagascar.)

**(Quick interlude: This is my first proper crossover, hope you guys like, I hope I'm keeping everyone in character, no I'm not accepting pairing requests, and as for what America's saying: "Yeah, he says he's going there, and we're not allowed to follow him because he's going by himself, and there's nothing we can do to stop him!" END OF INTERLUDE~)**

Atlantis facepalmed. "England, are you sure about this? It'd be a lot easier with the rest of us around. Well, mostly, and we could take turns teaching. We could always pass ourselves off as transfer students or something, right?"

Madagascar added, "Besides, although not all of us are as good with magic as you are, most of us can still do it. I think it'd be fun, too!" (You could practically hear the quotation marks around 'good with magic', as if she was being sarcastic, but England either didn't notice or chose to ignore it.)

"Well," England began, looking hesitant. What the two nations said made sense, although he wasn't sure whether Madagascar had been joking. After all, it was rather well-known (at least, among the magic-using nations) that he often summoned things and dabbled in dark magic. But that was beside the point. "I-I guess you're right," he muttered.

Atlantis beamed. "Good, because I really would rather let you have a say in this than have all of us show up at Hogwarts and give everyone there a heart attack." Despite her extremely cheerful tone, there was a hidden meaning in Atlantis' words. Something that went like, 'England, I don't care if you say yes or no, and neither do most of us. We're coming along whether you like it or not, the secret be damned.'

Thankfully, England got the message, and sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, you guys can come." Later, he'd wonder whether he made the right choice. Chaos always seemed to follow the nations around.

**AN: YAY! I finally managed to type up something! And if England seems OOC, I'm trying to make him seem stressed out and stuff. The title refers to Umbwitch, Harry and England. It's also a play on 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', but I'm pretty sure you guys got that.**

_**R&R**_


	2. Meetings and Nightmares

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: Atlantis is very, very strange. (But then again, she's like me…) The nations have to meet up for their school supplies, and poor England's tolerance level is getting lower and lower.**

**10/3/11: Beta version has been uploaded!**

Atlantis groaned. "Oh no, not again!" she complained, blushing. She'd originally gone over to America's house with Madagascar to 'help him with his packing', because Madagascar had reasoned that he would probably forget. Well, that was true, since they arrived to find him playing video games with Tony, but now that the packing was over, America and Madagascar were, well, kissing. Atlantis decided to leave, because she really did not want to see anything happen. After all, a particularly memorable party had had several couples 'getting a room' due to some... meddling.

***5 days later***

"Is that all? We got everything?" Atlantis asked, eyeing Madagascar's small (read: half-empty) trunk.

"Yeah, we still have to get our wands, robes and other stuff, so I figured I better pack light." Madagascar explained.

"Wait, you don't have a wand?" Atlantis asked, looking surprised.

"No, I usually use a staff. When did you get a wand?" Madagascar replied, curious.

"Oh, can't remember. Sometime before I zonked out, I think," Atlantis replied airily, pulling out a silvery wand that had tiny blue crystals embedded in it. "I can't remember the wood, but I think the core's made out of unicorn hair and poison ivy. Interesting combination, don't you think?" she asked, slipping the wand back in her pocket. _Oh, if the nations find _my_ wand funny, they're going to die when they see England'_s, she thought, smirking ever so slightly.

England had so far refused to take off the star charm, even though he didn't need it anymore. Back when he got the wand, it had been necessary to have a charm, so as to 'focus' the power (same as Atlantis' wand's crystals, really) but nowadays, they didn't need charms or anything else. The main difference between England's wand and Atlantis' wand, however, was that while England could simply pull off/use a simple severing spell to take the star off, the crystals were too deeply embedded in Atlantis' wand for them to be taken out without damage.

***Same time, England's house***  
>"Oh bloody hell, what am I going to do?" England said, realizing that the other nations would start arriving in a few days.<p>

Flying Mint Bunny replied, "Take them to Diagon Alley!"

England frowned as he remembered that he'd have to tell the others things about his magical community, such as 'Muggles are usually looked down upon because they can't do magic, so try not to wear Muggle clothes in wizarding areas'. Oh Lord, he could feel a headache coming on. Quickly, England wrote down a list of things that the other nations who hadn't been so in touch with their wizarding communities would need to know about, as well as their 'shopping list', which was basically their robes, wands and books, as well as other things like pets, brooms and equipment. Then he went to go and try to calm himself down with a cup of tea.

***2 days later***  
>"Oh my Glod, what is it with all these people around here?" Atlantis complained. Even though she wasn't exactly modern, she knew that there weren't supposed to be so many people outside the airport.<p>

But then again, maybe it was just their luck that the plane was late and subsequently landed them in the rush hour. "Zanahary," Madagascar murmured, as they finally pushed their way through the crowd. By the time they made it to their designated hotel (there were just too many of them for them to stay at England's house, as there would be 39 of them in total attending Hogwarts), America and Canada were already waiting for them.

The four of them as well as Prussia, Hungary, Austria, Japan, Greece, Germany, and Italy were in the same hotel, while Russia, Belarus, Galapagos, the Baltics, France, Hong Kong, Iceland, and Poland were in another. The rest of the nations were staying at a third hotel, England claiming that he hadn't cleaned out his guest rooms for a while and so couldn't have anyone over (London, of course, had her own place, since they were, well, in London, and Essex was staying with her.)

That night, everyone (with the exceptions of Austria, Hungary and Greece) was unable to sleep. This was mostly because America had wanted them all to watch a horror movie, but then he'd ended up freaking out, much like Italy, Prussia and Japan, although Japan didn't show it much. The rest of them, namely Atlantis, Madagascar, Canada, and Germany, were unable to sleep because they were woken up by the ones who couldn't sleep due to fright. In the end, nobody in their group slept much, not even the three who had refused to watch the movie, which made them extremely grumpy the next day. Well, except for Greece, who just fell asleep more often.

***Next day, Diagon Alley***  
>"Woah, this place is pretty cool!" America said, looking around. He didn't notice the dirty looks most of the witches and wizards nearby were giving him and the other nations, since they were wearing their usual clothing and looked like muggles (England had tried to persuade them, but since none of them changed, he just wore his usual uniform).<p>

"Come on, Ame- Alfred, let's just get our wands first!" Madagascar hissed, tugging on America's arm. Even though she had her magician's staff, she figured having a wand would be good, too. After all, you can never be too prepared...

**AN: So, how'd you like it so far? Next chapter will involve more of the Potterverse, and the nations getting their wands (and Iggy losing the star). Hopefully I'll be able to make them bump into one of the Weasleys or someone…**

**Don't forget to _R&R!_**


	3. Diagon Alley

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: Yay, updated so soon! I'm on a roll here… Sorry if the story seems a little slow, I just want to show how suspicious people are… because I'm that weird.**

**10/3/11: Beta version has been uploaded!**

All the nations felt extremely relieved once they finally made it to Ollivander's. (Even the ones who had their own wands came, because they wanted Ollivander to check them.) When they walked into the dark shop, Ollivander peered, unnoticed, at the large, noisy group. They all seemed to be different nationalities, and much too old to be Hogwarts students. They were dressed in muggle clothing, and yet, two of them were waving wands around. What a strange group. Stepping out from behind the counter, he asked, "And what are all of you here for? Surely you must be too old to be Hogwarts students?"

Atlantis started. She'd been having an argument with England, trying to get him to take the stupid star off his wand, but promptly forgot about that when she heard Ollivander speak. "Oh, we are going to Hogwarts, as part of a world exchange program. We're student-professors, but we're not quite sure what year we should be," Atlantis explained, hoping the man hadn't heard what she had been yelling at England.

"Not all of us have wands, though, so we decided to stop here first. Could you help us?" Madagascar added, hiding her staff behind her back.

"Hmm, you seem to be a tricky bunch. May I see your wand?" Ollivander said, addressing Atlantis.

"Oh, of course, here." Atlantis said, handing it over (although a little reluctantly). Running his fingers down the wand, Ollivander asked, "What kind of wood is this? I've never seen anything like it before- and why are there crystals in it? They're surely not just for decoration, are they?"

Atlantis flushed slightly, and replied, "I'm not sure what the wood is myself, but the core is unicorn hair and poison ivy. The crystals seem to be for power. The wand's been handed down in my family for a long time, so," While she'd been talking, Ollivander had the other nations measured, and had already begun pulling wands out. Handing Atlantis her wand back, he also gave the other nations wands to test, except for those who had their own ones. Spotting England's wand, the old wandmaker murmured something to the nation. England flushed, but nodded reluctantly, looking unhappy. Ollivander smiled slightly and pulled the star off the wand, glancing at both items briefly before handing them back.

_There's something not quite right about all these customers_, Ollivander thought. With all the rumors flying around about Voldemort, the Ministry were unlikely to allow foreign students into the wizarding world, let alone ones that were also 'doubling' as professors. But then he shook himself mentally and thought, _It's not my business to know about these things. After all, I am but merely an old wandmaker._ "Hmm, try this one," Ollivander told Poland, noticing that the wand he had given him had so far refused to do anything. "Cherry, 12 and a half inches, unicorn tail." Poland looked at the wand, slightly wary, and flicked it. Immediately, a flow of red and white sparks formed the Polish flag in midair.

***Timeskip because this author is tired and doesn't want to write how all of them eventually managed to get their wands. I'll probably put it in a random Omake or something, so, look out for Omakes during the course of this fic, yes?***

*At Madam Malkin's*  
>"Oh, my, are you all Hogwarts students?" was the first thing the group heard when they arrived at the shop. Here we go again, several of the nations thought. First Ollivander (who had told them that they were probably fifth-years (Galapagos had managed to create a potion that would make them look twenty years old, so that wasn't too big a problem)), then the apothecary, and now Madam Malkin.<p>

"How long 'till that potion's done?" Atlantis whispered to Galapagos.

"Tonight, I just have to add some snake fangs. I think Harry's going to be a fifth-year, too, so we should be able to keep an eye on him," Galapagos whispered back. "The potion should last for a month or so, unless I add more fangs. Month or a year?"  
>Atlantis frowned, and not just because she thought that looking twenty for a month then suddenly looking 22 would be strange, but also because she had spotted a young blonde boy walking in.<p>

"I need new robes, but Father says to send them directly to the mansion this time." The boy addressed Madam Malkin in a haughty drawl (if that was possible) then noticed the strangely dressed group also waiting for their robes. "Are you all going to Hogwarts?" he drawled.

**AN: YAY CLIFFIE!**

**_R&R_ makes me write faster! Or else I'll just leave you in suspense **_ihope_ **Mwahahahahaha!**


	4. Platform 9 and Three Quarters

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: Damn, as soon as I write a new chapter I just have to get it up. I wrote this yesterday, (right after I updated) and tried to stay away to get more reviews, but I guess that just doesn't work. Oh well… although this chapter isn't really that interesting, at least they'll be Sorted next chapter, ne?**

**10/3/11: Beta version has been uploaded!**

"Well, technically," England said, wondering whether the Malfoy boy was as irritating as his father.

Apparently he was, because he smirked and said, "Well, you all look _much_ too old to be students. What, were your parents too poor to send you to school?"

Several small scuffles broke out, with some of the nations trying to get at Draco and strangle the little prat, and the others trying to restrain them. Madam Malkin, hearing the noise, quickly gave them the robes, accepted the money and practically pushed them out the door.

"Who the hell _WAS_ that little brat?" Atlantis seethed.

"Draco Malfoy," England replied curtly.

"Ohmygosh, these uniforms are, like, so totally boring!" Poland exclaimed, and suddenly the general murderous atmosphere evaporated.

"Where to next?" Madagascar asked, trying to forget the obnoxious boy.

"Pets, if anyone wants some. But how about we split up? Half of us can go get the animals and the other half can get our books, then we'll be done," England said, glancing around.

"Okay, so who wants what? We can buy, um, cats, owls, or toads, I think," Atlantis said, looking over England's shoulder at the list of things they had to buy.

"Cats, please," Greece mumbled. Japan, Italy, Atlantis, China, and (surprisingly) Liechtenstein agreed, although Switzerland didn't look too happy about it. America, Hong Kong, Russia, Finland and Taiwan wanted owls. Unsurprisingly, nobody wanted a toad. (Canada, Prussia and a few others already had their own pets, and refused to leave them behind.) "Okay, so we'll meet at the ice cream place in half an hour."

***Timeskip to leaving day***

"Wow, time seems to have flown," Cape Verde remarked to China. Having woken up early, the couple was sitting in the lobby waiting for the rest of their group to show up.

"Yes, it has, hasn't it, aru?" China nodded, although he also looked unhappy about something.

"What's wrong, Chi- Yao?" Cape Verde asked, looking worried.

"It's nothing, aru, just remembering old times. Nothing for you to be concerned about, so don't look so worried, okay aru?" China sighed. He had, in fact, been thinking about the Opium Wars and how he'd had to fight some of England's wizard/witches during it. Happy times...

~*~~E~*~P~~*~I~~*~C~~*~*~P~~*~A~~*~G~~*~E~~*~*~B~~*~R~~*~E~~*~A~~*~K~~*~~*

"ALFRED I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Madagascar screamed. They only had 20 minutes left to go to King's Cross station, and if they didn't make it there in time, they wouldn't know how to get onto Platform 9 and 3/4, and then they would miss the Hogwarts Express.

"Fine, fine," America mumbled. "What's the rush?"

Madagascar pushed him into the bathroom. "Go clean up, and if you're not done in 10 minutes, I'm burning your comics," she ordered.

"W-what? Okay, okay!" America said, finally looking awake.

At that moment, Atlantis came into their hotel room and asked, "How much longer are you guys going to take? They're getting impatient."

Madagascar was packing the last of her stuff in a hurry, and said, "Ame-Alfred just got up. We should be out in about 5 minutes." At Atlantis' curious look, she whispered, "I think we should get used to using our human names."

Atlantis nodded. "Good idea!"

***Timeskip to 20 minutes later***

"Oh, you finally decided to show up, did you?" England said, looking annoyed.

"Cut me some slack, Alfred refused to get up until I said I'd burn his comics," Madagascar snapped.

America blushed slightly and protested, "Hey, I was watching a movie last night! And why are you calling me Alfred? Nobody's listening," he added in a whisper.

"We should get used to using our human names-"

"-So we don't slip up," Atlantis and Madagascar said, grinning because they'd managed to surprise some of the others.

"Bloody hell, are you sure you're not related? You act like twins half the time!" England complained.

"Ever heard of something called telepathy?" Madagascar smirked. England was saved from having to reply by Atlantis.

"Oh my Glod, look at the time we're going to be late and we don't even know where the platform is!" she exclaimed.

"Just walk through the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. It's a secret entrance!" England said, noticing the dubious looks the others gave him.

"I vill go first, da?" Russia said, then strode over to the wall- and vanished.

"Brother, wait for me!" Belarus exclaimed, running through the wall as well. After a few more minutes, everyone managed to go through.

"Oh, wait! Here, before I forget," Galapagos exclaimed, handing out vials of a silvery-purple potion.

"What's this?" London asked.

"You know, the... thing... that makes you look 20... but Latvia, Belarus, Liechtenstein and anyone who looks younger than 20 doesn't have to drink it. If you do look over 20, though, well, looking 5 years older is better than looking 'way too old', right?" Galapagos explained.

Nodding, most of the countries drank the potion, suddenly looking a couple years younger, although they stayed the same height, though some, like Switzerland and Japan, looked warily at the potion before drinking. Just in time too, as a crowd of actual students had began filling in.

"Come on, let's go get a seat before they're all taken!" Essex said cheerfully.

After a while of pushing and shoving and general bickering- Romano could be heard yelling "Stupid tomato bastard!" at Spain- they managed to get settled in.

Then they heard someone say in a half-whisper, "-Sirius!"

**AN: Ahahaha… This isn't actually a cliffhanger. It just seems like one…**

**_R&R!_**


	5. Hogwarts and the Sorting

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: Sorrry this is late! This one's longer this time, hopefully you won't die of boredom ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Celeste and the plot of this fic. Wait, I don't even own that… CG50 helped me out with some of the fluff in this chapter, so kudos to her!**

**10/3/11: Beta version has been uploaded!**

As they struggled through the corridors looking for compartments, Harry heard someone saying loudly, "'Cause I'm the hero, that's why!" and several other voices replying, "Shut _up_, Alfred!" Strangely, they all seemed to be different accents, American, French, Italian, German and a few others he couldn't identify, as well as one very strong British accent. Looking through the glass door, he saw about five people in there, although the voices also came from the nearby compartments.

"Hey, Ginny, who do you think those people are?" Harry whispered, not wanting to draw attention.

Ginny glanced through the door as well and shrugged. "No idea. Maybe they're transfer students?" she suggested, continuing to look for a free compartment.

"But they're all dressed in weird muggle clothing," Harry muttered. "Whatever, I guess we'll find out eventually," he decided, following Ginny.

"Hi Harry, hi Ginny," Neville greeted them, panting. "Everywhere's full, can't find a seat," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny said, looking into the compartment behind Neville. "There's room here, it's only Loony Lovegood-"

Neville turned redder (if that was possible) and muttered something about not wanting to disturb anyone.

~*~~E~*~P~~*~I~~*~C~~*~*~P~~*~A~~*~G~~*~E~~*~*~B~~*~R~~*~E~~*~A~~*~K~~*~~*

***Timeskip to 30 minutes later because I was writing this at 2AM in the morning***

"Oh my Glod. I'm going to get another compartment. Coming, England?" Atlantis muttered, her face slightly red. America and Madagascar were whispering to each other and giggling like teenage girls- it was kind of sickening. Prussia had already left to find Canada, so it was only her and England.

"Yeah, watching the two of them is torture," England mumbled. Grabbing their things, the two left the compartment. Walking down the corridor, they nearly bumped into a girl with long black hair.

"Oh, sorry!" she said, then ran off to her own compartment without waiting for a reply. Shrugging, England and Atlantis continued down the corridor, until they came to a compartment with four people in it. There were others, too, but they were almost always full and in a mess. Not that this one wasn't, unfortunately.

It was covered in green slime, but as they watched, a young, red-haired girl waved her wand and the slime vanished.

Opening the door slightly, Atlantis asked, "Um, could we sit in here, please?" The students exchanged swift glances, then nodded. "Thanks!" Atlantis beamed, sitting next to a girl with dirty-blonde hair (who looked slightly like Belarus, creepily enough). England sat next to her, and for a few moments there was an awkward silence. One of the boys seemed to be struggling to hold on to his toad and his plant, the girl beside Atlantis was reading her magazine upside down, and the other two students stared at the two nations (although they didn't know they were nations) suspiciously.

"U-um, my name's Celeste Duvange," Atlantis said, slightly unnerved by the stares.

"Neville Longbottom," the boy with the toad said.

"I'm Ginny Weasley, and that's Luna Lovegood," the red-haired girl said, nodding at the girl next to Atlantis.

"I'm Harry Potter," the boy next to Neville said, ducking his head slightly.

"Nice to meet you!" Atlantis said cheerfully.

Harry was rather surprised. Sure, he didn't like the attention, but usually people would show a little recognition at his name and say something stupid, like, "_The_ Harry Potter?" or something similar when meeting him. He felt thankful that the strange girl- Celeste, was it?- didn't seemed to be shocked or anything. The boy with the huge eyebrows, on the other hand... he seemed to be scrutinizing Harry. When he noticed Harry looking at him, though, he turned slightly red and ducked his head, his hair hiding his eyes.

"So, why're you two here, anyways?" Harry asked, sounding a little more aggressive than he had originally wanted to.

The girl shot him a cold look. "We're part of a new transfer program, and there are, oh, about 40 of us. And if you comment about our ages, _I swear to Glod I will kill you with my spear_." She muttered the last bit. Harry felt scared. Had the girl just said 'spear'? But then the boy spoke up.

"Calm down, Atl- Celeste. There's no harm if they know a little, right?" Celeste glared at the boy, and was about to say something when her pet cat jumped out of her lap.

"Huh? Tide, where are you going?" she called. At that moment, the snack cart lady came in. The boy bought a few Chocolate Frogs and a pumpkin pasty, while the girl looked at the food as if she'd never seen it before. Which could be a possibility, since she was wearing a weird muggle dress, but then her wand slipped out of her sleeve with a surprisingly loud *thunk*. Harry stared at it. It was made out of a strange, silvery wood, and seemed to have- were those _glowing crystals_ embedded in it?

Atlantis swore softly in her own language. _Damn it!_ she thought, scooping up both her wand and her cat.

"Hey, what kind of wand is that?" Neville asked curiously.

"Never you mind," she said curtly. "A Chocolate Frog, please," she added to the snack-cart lady. After paying, she unwrapped it and took a bite, but became shocked when it twitched. "Eek!" she squeaked, dropping it in surprise. The Chocolate Frog croaked and leaped away (admirable as it was missing a leg), and Tide chased after it. Atlantis heard stifled laughing and glared at Harry and Ginny, who immediately stopped.

"Calm down, Celeste. It _was_ kind of funny," England said, touching Atlantis' shoulder lightly. Atlantis blushed a bit, and glared at England, though it was more out of habit than anything else. Both England and Atlantis felt their faces turn red, but at that exact awkward moment, two other students came in.

"I'm _starving_," Ron announced, not even noticing the two extra 'students' and stowing his stuff away. Hermione, though, remained standing at the doorway, glancing nervously at them.

"H-hi, I'm Celeste Duvange," the blonde girl stammered. She had a faint accent that Hermione felt that she should know, but couldn't quite remember.

"I'm Arthur Kirkland," the boy sitting next to Celeste introduced himself. He had a British accent (not to mention huge eyebrows), although Harry, Ginny, and Neville stared at him as if he had said something particularly strange. Luna Lovegood just smiled dreamily and went back to reading her upside-down magazine.

Ron sat down next to Harry and began eating a Chocolate Frog hungrily. "Ron Weasley," he managed to get out between bites. Everyone except Luna looked disgusted at the bits of chocolate flying around, as she was apparently too absorbed in her magazine to notice.

Hermione said politely, "I'm Hermione Granger."

Looking slightly surprised, Celeste asked, "So, um, what year are you all in?"

Hermione replied, "Ron, Harry, Neville and I are in fifth year, while Ginny and Luna are in fourth."

Ron finished his Chocolate Frog. "Hey, why're you here anyway?" he asked, evidently just realizing that they were too old to be first-years.

Celeste didn't reply though, but suddenly had a creepy black aura around her. Arthur hurriedly added, "We're transfer students. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask Harry."

"Wait, but you look too- argh!" Ron yelped. Celeste had apparently lost what little patience she had as she pulled out a spear from seemingly nowhere and was now pointing it at Ron menacingly.

"Finish that sentence, and you'll have a new body piercing," she hissed. Atlantis was sick and tired of these nosy people constantly asking questions about their age. So what if they looked a couple years older than the average student? But at the very moment that she snapped (and almost stabbed Ron), the door to the compartment opened.

"Well, well, what have we got here?"

Oh, great. It was the blond idiot from Diagon Alley, accompanied by two moronic-looking boys.

"What?" Harry demanded aggressively.

"I'd watch your manners if I were you, Potter," the idiot drawled, looking smug. "You see, I, unlike you, am a _prefect_ now, and can therefore hand out punishments."

Harry looked annoyed. "Yeah, but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out now," he retorted.

Atlantis changed her mind- Ron might be annoying, but this other boy was _much_ more obnoxious. "You heard Harry. Get out," she ordered, standing up and swinging her spear around to point at the conceited brat. England stood up behind her, looking slightly nervous, but annoyed at the same time.

The boy's lip curled. "Hiding behind strangers, now, Potter? Tell me, how does it feel to be second-best to Weasley?" he sneered.

"Why you little-" Atlantis lunged at him, patience completely gone, only to be restrained by England. "Let- me- go!" Atlantis yelled, struggling.

England saw the blond pureblood smirking. "Calm down, Celeste," he said. He glared at the Malfoy boy. "If you don't shut up right now and get out, you little _git_, I may just ask one of my friends to give you a lesson," he said angrily.

"Oh yeah? Who, you, mudblood?" Malfoy asked, sneering. He didn't notice 3 people at the doorway.

"Mudblood?" Russia asked, smiling his usual creepy smile, and you could see his aura, the dreaded, creepy purple aura, along with his gleaming pipe in one hand, though it was dulled in some places by the remains of dried blood. Switzerland was holding his gun, and glaring furiously at the blond pureblood. Madagascar was also standing there, holding a mace in one hand.

"Hello there, blondeface. Now... would you like the gun, pipe, or mace?" she asked, smiling in a rather cunning way. Malfoy did not want to mess with anyone like this, so he walked quickly (Purebloods did not run, thank you very much) out of the room, Goyle and Crabbe right after him. Madagascar smiled. Then, after Malfoy left, she smirked, but then, she felt something inside of her burn, and she clutched her forehead. America noticed it, and ran after her.

"Not again... not another troublesome headache..." she said quietly.

***Timeskip to getting to off the train***

"Damn it, we forgot to change into our Hogwarts robes!" Madagascar exclaimed, looking around the crowd of black-clad students.

"Who cares? Come on, we're going to be la- WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE?" Atlantis screamed, noticing the skeletal horses attached to the school carriages.

"First years, this way please! Transfer students as well!" The group of nations heard a female voice calling out.

"Guess that's us..." Atlantis muttered.

Harry looked surprised. "You can see them too?" they heard him call out, just before he was swallowed by the crowd.

"I'm guessing he means the Thestrals," England said thoughtfully.

"What, those creepy horses?" Atlantis shuddered. As she, Madagascar, America and England got into one boat (Russia was with Belarus, Poland and Lithuania, while London, Essex, Galapagos and France were in another), Atlantis looked down. And screamed again. "IS THAT A FREAKING GIANT SQUID IN THERE?"

***Timeskip again, to the Sorting, because this author is getting sleepy***

"Hey, Ron, look! It's those weird people again!" Harry whispered.

"What, you mean like that girl with the spear?" Ron looked anxious. Harry nodded. "Oh, bloody hell!" Ron swore.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed. "The Sorting's about to start!"

But when McGonagall started calling out names (after the Sorting Hat's song, of course), it wasn't a first year who stepped forward, in fact at first glance she looked like a third- or fourth-year. "Arlovskaya, Nataliya" was from the large group of 'transfer students' that so far none of the Golden Trio, plus Ginny, trusted. As soon as the Hat was placed on her head, however, something strange happened. The Hat seemed to go limp for a few seconds, but then shakily shouted out, "SLYTHERIN!"

The exact same thing happened with "Beilschmidt, Gilbert", an albino boy who looked around twenty and carried a bird on his head. Actually, most of the transfers looked around twenty or so. Gilbert went to Slytherin, but his brother, a tall, intimidating blond, went to Hufflepuff. (A brown-haired Italian boy, who had previously been hanging onto his arm, shouted, "Ve~! Luddy~!" 'Luddy' looked mortified.)

"Bonnefoy, Francis!" Another Slytherin. This one seemed to be French, and was pulling roses out of thin air. He also tried to flirt with some girls, but a glare from Professor McGonagall made him stop.

"Braginsky, Ivan!" Ron turned pale. Across the hall at the Slytherin table, so did Draco. It was the pipe-wielding boy from the train, so to Harry, Ron and Hermione, it was no surprise when he went to Slytherin. Others, however, thought he should've been in Hufflepuff.

"Bondevik, Emil", "Duvange, Celeste" (Ron looked extremely relieved when she went to Slytherin), "Edelstein, Roderich", and several others were called out. Ron began to look impatient. By the time "Jones, Alfred" was called, he started looking hungry again. A wheat-blond, blue-eyed American ran over to the Hat. The Hat had actually begun turning pale at this point (amazingly, it was looking very washed-out), and Harry wondered what was wrong. Could it be something in the transfer students' minds? He was interrupted from his thoughts when 'Alfred' sat down across from him. "Nice to meet ya Harry, I'm the hero!" he proclaimed loudly, surprising several people around him. All the transfers facepalmed.

***Timeskip to Dumbledore/Umbridge's speech***

"Gotta admit, that was pretty good," America whispered to Korea. "Even there wasn't any soda or anything."

Yong Soo nodded enthusiastically. "Even though there wasn't any kimchi, it was still okay, da-ze!"

Then an old wizard- Dumbledore- began speaking. Everyone fell silent, though America quickly started getting bored. All Dumbledore was saying was that there were some places people weren't supposed to go, things they couldn't have, new people, blah blah blah. Then a woman in a _horrible_pink sweater (over at the Hufflepuff table, Poland looked like he was going to rip it, or maybe even her, apart for being a crime against nature) started coughing. "_Hem, hem_." What was wrong with her? Did she have something stuck in her throat? Apparently not, because she began talking. America started falling asleep, and a lot of the people around him began talking, although one girl was listening (and looked like she was eating a sour lemon). After what seemed like _forever_, people started getting up.

"Where're we going?" America mumbled.

"Come on, sleepyhead," Madagascar laughed.

**AN: Ahahaha… This isn't actually a cliffhanger. It just seems like one…**

**_R&R!_**


	6. Arguments and Lessons

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: People are getting very, very suspicious… Dumbledore bashing and various hints of headcannon.**

**AN: I actually wrote some of this semi-fluff myself! Yay! Oh, by the way, in my headcannon, Belarus is somewhat okay unless with Russia. Then she goes all clingy-serial-killer-ish. I know I said AusHun before, but I'll also hint at AusSwitz. And Englantis has been decided on! I'm so happy I managed to write this in one day, even if it is maybe a bit shorter than last time~ *does the Soviet Marshmallow dance***

**10/3/11: Beta version has been uploaded!**

"Oh my Glod," Atlantis mumbled. Nearby, she heard someone snigger.

"Been having nightmares, mudblood?" an extremely irritating voice called out.

"I'm one of the farthest... things from a Muggle... you'll ever see!" she called back, yawning. Grudgingly getting out of bed and shivering slightly in the cool air of the door, she dressed quickly in her robes, and after a few moments of deliberation, her black combat boots. Hey, she didn't feel like wearing the boring and generic school shoes, and as she was going to stand out anyway, she might as well do it her way.

On the other side of the dorm, Belarus- no, _Nataliya_, was also getting up. "What classes do we have?" the other girl asked sleepily.

"Well, after breakfast we've got Charms, then double Potions with the Gryffindors, then Transfiguration and a bunch of other classes," Atlantis said, glancing down at the schedule she'd received last night. "Oh, crap, we're going to be late for breakfast!" she exclaimed, noticing the time. "Sorry, Nataliya, but I said I'd meet Maddie and Alfred. See you in Charms!" Atlantis ran off to the Great Hall.

"Wonder where Celeste is?" Madagascar wondered, rubbing her forehead.

"'aybe she *CHOMP* overslept?" America suggested, his words muffled as usual with food.

"Alfred, stop talking when you're eating!" Madagascar scolded. At that moment, Atlantis ran into the Great Hall, and made her way over to the Gryffindor table, and made her way over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hey guys," she greeted them, grabbing a piece of toast.

"Hi-"

Madagasar was cut off by a fair-haired boy saying aggressively, "Hey! You're a Slytherin! What are you doing here?"

Atlantis glared at the boy. "So what if I'm in Slytherin? Does that mean I can't sit with my friends?" she asked coldly, though the piece of toast she was holding in her hand somewhat ruined the effect.

"What? Y-you're friends wi-with HER?"

Atlantis sighed inwardly. It was that boy from the train, Ron Weasley. Madagascar and America both looked angry.

"Yeah, she's our friend. Problem, redface?" Madagascar sneered. You could tell she was sorely tempted to pull out her mace. Both Ron and the fair-haired boy looked nervous, Ron practically going white.

Just then, Korea called out, "J-Kiku! Your breasts belong to me, da-ze!"

Over at the Ravenclaw table, Japan and China were trying to hide behind Greece, Cape Verde and a few other students. Taiwan merely looked annoyed, and Hong Kong was expressionless as usual.

"But... he's a boy..." several students muttered.

***Timeskip to History of Magic (Gryffindor and Ravenclaw)***

"Those 'transfer students' are horrible!" Ron whispered to Harry. Alfred was sitting behind Hermione, and the other girl- Nataly, he thought she was called- was sitting next to Alfred, apparently trying to calm him down.

"What happened?" Harry whispered.

"You know that crazy blonde from the train, the one with the spear?" Harry nodded. "Well, you know how she's in Slytherin? She was sitting at the Gryffindor table this morning!" Ron started looking unhappy.

"What? Why?" Harry asked. Hermione glared at them, so Ron lowered his voice.

"I don't know why, but Seamus apparently asked why she was there and she started getting defensive, saying, "Can't I sit with my friends?""

Madagascar heard what Ron was saying, although nobody else (including their ghost teacher, Professor Binns- Madagascar hoped that it was just Binns' voice that made the students sleep, because if it was the subject of History that made them sleep, she'd have to cast spells on the classroom that would keep them awake, because she refused to teach a class full of sleeping students) seemed to notice what Harry and Ron were talking about.

_So, 'crazy blonde girl', huh?_ Madagascar thought.

Harry frowned. "Wait, so she was calling Gryffindors her friends?"

Ron nodded vigorously. "Yeah, and when I asked them about it, the girl called me redface!"

Harry started looking angry- he asked Ron (in what he obviously thought was a low voice), "And what did you do?"

Ron looked sheepish. "I, erm, got distracted," he confessed. "Someone was making a commotion at the Ravenclaw table, and by the time I remembered, all three of them were gone."

Harry sighed. "There's not much we can do about that, Ron," he muttered. Just then, the bell rang and Madagascar busied herself with grabbing all her stuff to go to Herbology, as well as calming America down (having a ghost for a teacher unsettled him).

***Timeskip to Potions (Gryffindor and Slytherin)***

"Hi," Atlantis greeted them curtly, sitting next to England. Nearby, Russia was trying to get Belarus to sit with someone else. It wasn't working.

"What's wrong, At- Celeste?" Madagascar asked.

"Nothing much, it's just that... well, you saw what happened this morning, Maddie. I don't think we should be seen too much together- some students are already getting suspicious." Atlantis sighed.

"Well, that sucks," America said, looking slightly annoyed.

"But what about the World meetings? How are we going to do them if we can't meet up?" Madagascar asked, lowering her voice.

"I don't know, we'll figure something out later!" Atlantis whispered right before the greasy-haired professor came in.

Harry stared at Alfred and Nataly, who were whispering to two of the Slytherins. The four of them looked worried about something, but he couldn't quite hear what. Something about a meeting? He wasn't sure. And had the Slytherin girl called Nataly 'Maddie'? Harry was becoming more and more suspicious.

"Settle down," said Snape coldly, closing the door behind him. There was no real need for him to say that however; the moment the class heard the door closed, they fell silent. Snape's presence alone usually kept a class silent. "Before we begin today's lesson," said Snape, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important exam, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Yes, even you 'transfer students' will have to take this exam," he said, noticing Alfred's hand in the air. "Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your OWL, or suffer my... displeasure." Neville gulped, because Snape was staring at him. "After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape went on. "I take only the best into my NEWT Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye." He stared at Harry this time, and his lip curled. Harry glared at him. ***1**

***Skip to the end of Snivelly's little speech***

"Could this potion BE any harder?" Atlantis grumbled. The ingredients _had_ to be added in the _exact_ order and amount, the potion_ had_ to be stirred the_exact_ same amount in the _exact_ directions; the heat _had_ to be the _exact_ temperature before the final ingredient was added. Needless to say, most of the class wasn't doing well. Russia was kolkoling with annoyance in one corner, Belarus frowning next to him, while Galapagos, France and Essex's were issuing slightly darker shades of silver.

Some of the regular students weren't as lucky; Harry's was emitting dark grey smoke, Ron's looked like it was throwing up green sparks, the fair-haired boy was prodding his flames with his wand. Korea's was bubbling like crazy, America's was flashing neon colors, Prussia was frantically putting out the flames (his had somehow caught on fire and was a sickly green color), although Madagascar, Atlantis and England's potions were all releasing different shades of silver smoke (Atlantis had mostly managed by telepathically asking help from Madagascar, Madagascar was used to making potions with Galapagos, and England had attended Hogwarts before, as well as teaching as Potions teacher a couple times).

"Potter, what is this supposed to be?" Snape smirked at Harry's potion. Almost all the Slytherins looked up eagerly; they loved it when Snape taunted Harry. However, Harry noticed that the transfer Slytherins were looking uneasy- at least, Arthur, Celeste, the Frenchman and the albino- Gilbert, he heard he was called- were. The pipe pyscho and that other girl were still trying to salvage their potions.

"The Draught of Peace," Harry said tensely.

"Tell me, Potter, can you read?" Snape asked cooly.  
>Draco Malfoy laughed, until Celeste glared at him, that is. Then he stopped, probably remembering the train incident.<p>

"Yes, I can," said Harry, fingers tightening around his wand.

"Read the third line of instructions for me, Potter." Draco began grinning again, ignoring Celeste, Arthur, Nataly and Alfred's murderous looks.

Squinting through the various kinds of smoke and sparks, Harry read, "Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counter-clockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes then add two drops of syrup of hellebore." His heart sank. He'd forgotten to add the syrup of hellebore...

"Did you do everything, Potter?" Snape asked.

Scowling, Harry muttered, "No."

"I beg your pardon?" Arthur was furious. Snape was enjoying this _far_ too much.

"No." Harry said, speaking louder. "I forgot the hellebore."

"I know you did, Potter, which makes this mess completely worthless. _Evanesco_," Snape sneered.

"Hey, wait!" Alfred stood up.

"Alfred, please, don't make Snape angry!" Nataly whispered, but Alfred continued.

"Why's Harry the only one who gets yelled at? I mean, mine's more colorful than the Fourth of July, Yong Soo's looks like it's going to erupt, and Gilbert's looks like rat poison!"

"Five points from Gryffindor and detention, Jones," Snape said. "Those of you who _have_ managed to read the instructions properly, fill one flagon with your potion and bring it to my desk for marking." Snape turned away. ***2**

***Timeskip to lunch***

"T-that greasy slimeball-" Atlantis swore.

"Celeste, please calm down. There are younger students here," England warned, his dark expression contradicting his words.

"That was so unawesome!" Prussia whined. The three were sitting at the Slytherin table, ignored by everyone else. (They didn't want to risk any of the staff or students getting suspicious about them constantly talking to the other houses, and Russia was presumably somewhere hiding from Belarus, who was sitting moodily alone. France was off flirting somewhere, nobody really wanted to ask.)

"I know we're not supposed to draw attention, Arthur, but you're _Eng_-" Atlantis cut off her words abruptly, seeing England's warning glance. Suddenly, she clutched her head. "Oww," Atlantis muttered, glancing over to the Gryffindor table. What she saw made her extremely worried- Madagascar was hunched over, evidently in pain, while America and a few others looked on helplessly.

"What's wrong?" England asked, noticing Atlantis' pained expression.

"It's Maddie's government!" Atlantis realized. "That's why she's been looking unwell for a while!" she lowered her voice, conscious of the other students. "Oh, no..."

Both England and Prussia looked worried, and even Belarus winced slightly. They all knew what it was like to feel pain when there was trouble, death or damage in their country.

"Wait a sec, how do you know?" Prussia asked.

"Telepathic link." Atlantis replied, sighing in relief as the pain ebbed away slowly.

"Kesesese, that's pretty awesome!" Prussia exclaimed. The other Slytherins shot him dirty looks.

***Unspecified timeskip***

_What are those weird mudbloods doing?_ Draco thought.

"Drakey, what's wrong?" Pansy pouted, hanging onto his arm.

"It's nothing, Pansy, I'm just-" Draco was cut off when Francis ran past, being chased by Celeste and Arthur, who were both holding weapons, Celeste with her spear and Arthur with... a sword?

"Get back here Frenchie!" Celeste hollered, not even noticing Draco as she ran past him.

"Non! You will kill me!" Francis's voice echoed down the hallway.

"It would serve you right for trying to hit on _BOTH_ of us, you bloody frog!" Arthur yelled, also speeding past Draco and Pansy without so much as a blink.

"I don't trust these transfers... I'm going to write to Father about them," Draco decided.

Pansy suddenly exclaimed, "Drakey, we're going to be late for Transfiguration!" The two ran off to the classroom, completely forgetting about the little scenario with Francis. That is, until the three showed up twenty minutes into the lesson. ***3**

"Kirkland. Duvange. Bonnefoy. Why are you so late?" McGonagall was furious, and the three nations practically wilted under her gaze.

"Well, um, Francis here was trying to hit on BOTH of us, and-"

"The frog was being extremely perverted-"

"Sourcils and Mermaid here were being very unreasonable-"

"STOP!" McGonagall shouted. She rubbed her forehead. "Twenty points from Slytherin, and detention for all three of you."

"But Professor-"

"ENOUGH!" McGonagall yelled. For the life of her, she couldn't understand _why_ Albus had chosen to let all these strange students into Hogwarts. She decided to go ask him about it later, and turned back towards the board. "Now, try saying the incantation..."

***At dinner...***

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU JUST SAY, FROG?" Most of the students in the Great Hall looked over to the Slytherin table, where an extremely red-faced Arthur was standing.

"Why, Angleterre, I merely said that you and your-" Francis smirked, but was promptly whacked in the face with a large textbook.

"I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND, YOU PERVERTED FRENCHIE!" Now Celeste was standing, too.

France smirked and said, "I am sure you both shall soon be, after all, I _am_ an expert in l'amour-" That is, until Madagascar whacked him on the back of the head with another textbook.

"Shut up! I'm trying to study Herbology here, idiot!" she yelled.

McGonagall sighed. Why were the students Albus allowed to come here so strange? One of them looked so familiar, too... Wait... He was called Arthur Kirkland, wasn't he? It was probably just her imagination, though... It couldn't be the same person, not after all this time. She continued eating her dinner, and saw a Gryffindor student whack a Slytherin on the head with a large textbook. She was too confused to say, "5 points from Gryffindor!", but she stopped eating, eying the students carefully. She then heard one say:

"Eng- Arthur, how about we all attack Franc-is at once, along with Atl-Celeste and Am- Alfred?" she heard the Gryffindor girl, Nataly, call out. McGonagall decided to tell the transfer students to go to her office later- she really wanted to find out what was going on. But first, she had several things to ask a certain Albus Dumbledore...

*****1 & 2: Taken from the book. This will happen more and more, since I'm trying to stick to the HP Canon more than the APH one. ^_^'  
>*3: Hopefully, the story's not moving too fast- I'm trying to keep it both APH and HP, so even though it's (mostly) HP canon, it'll jump around APH style~<strong>**

**AN: I looked at the original, unbeta'd version, and oh my Glod, there are so many mistakes in there it's not even funny. Thank you so much, StargateNerd, for being an awesome beta!**

**_R&R_, and I hope you enjoy the long chapter!**


	7. Paranoia, Lies and Legilimency, Part 1

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation**

**Chapter summary: Dumbledore shows why he should've been put in Slytherin, the staff become paranoid and the students (will) become nicer towards the 'transfers'. At least, the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs do. The Slytherins, not so much…**

**AN: The wonderful SG-chan (StargateNerd) has agreed to beta this for me! Thank you, SG-chan! Also, I haven't posted a new chapter in a while, but in my defense, I had a fever! Hope you enjoy this (really long) chapter and review!**

"Albus, these students have been acting particularly strange, and I am concerned that-"

"Minerva, it was not my choice to allow these students to come here."

Atlantis paused. Being pretty much an 'extinct' nation had some perks, such as the ability to turn 'ghostly', which basically meant she was invisible and untouchable to most, except for Prussia and Canada, who, being able to see her, could also manage to touch/poke her. Which Prussia frequently did, usually to piss her off. (It sometimes worked.)

"What do you mean, Albus?" Atlantis directed her attention towards the voices again, although she wouldn't actually enter the room. She'd had bad experiences with walking on several people, such as Kiku and Heracles, and even though she was sure nothing was going on in the office, she'd rather not get stuck in the wall.

"I mean, Minerva," Dumbledore continued, "I was not the one who decided to send these students here." His eyes blazed, the usual genial twinkle glaringly absent.

"Oh?"

Atlantis listened carefully, curious as to what Dumbledore meant.

"Believe me, Minerva, these students are not to be trusted. When I arrived back from the Ministry and Harry's hearing, I found a letter from an extremely… influential person. Because of that, I had to allow these students to come here. But even though I must let them stay, I want you and the other professors to monitor these students." A self-righteous anger flared in his piercing blue eyes.

Atlantis wanted to continue listening, but felt herself appearing slowly. She couldn't afford to be stuck here, outside the Headmaster's office. Nation-stepping to the Slytherin common room, she landed solidly on the floor with a loud *bang*.

"What the bloody hell?" England was, to say the least, surprised. He'd been checking his Potions essay over when Atlantis appeared out of nowhere, falling onto the floor.

"Sorry…" Atlantis mumbled, her face red. "I've got some interesting news. When's the next World Conference?"

Standing up and tidying away his work, England replied, "I'm not sure. We haven't found a suitable place yet."

"Oh, damn. Because Dumbledore's really suspicious…" Atlantis trailed off, looking worried.

***Timeskip to next day, Defense Against the Dark Arts *1 (All houses)***

"Well, good afternoon!" Umbridge said in her breathy, sickly-sweet, girlish little voice. The nations, bunched together at the back, muttered "Good afternoon," feeling like they wanted to throw up. So did a few of the other students, although most of them merely stared at Umbridge warily.

"Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "_That _won't do, now will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." they chanted at her, although a few nations glared at her darkly, hating being treated like children. (They were _countries_, for Christ's sake!)

"There, now," Umbridge said, her voice even sweeter. "That wasn't too hard, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

Almost the whole class exchanged gloomy looks; the order 'wands away' had never been followed by an interesting lesson, at least by their standards.  
>Harry shoved his wand back inside his bag and pulled out ink, a quill and a roll of parchment. Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own wand (which was unusually short), and tapped the blackboard sharply with it; words appeared on the board almost instantly.<p>

_Defense Against the Dark Arts_

_A Return to Basic Principles_

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" Umbridge turned to the face the class, clasping her hands neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your OWL year." Madagascar resisted the urge to throw up at the obvious attempt to put the idiotic bureaucrats in a good light.

"You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please." Madagascar poked America, trying to get him to wake up- he had, amazingly, fallen asleep by the middle of the speech.

Umbridge rapped the blackboard sharply, causing America to jolt awake in surprise. The letters on the board changed, becoming 'Course Aims'.

_1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic._

_2. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used._

_3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use._

For a few minutes, there was the scritch-scratching of quills on parchment. When everyone finished copying down the three 'Course Aims', Umbridge asked, "Has everybody got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory _by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

Everybody murmured a dull, "Yes, Professor."

"I think we'll try that again, louder this time," Professor Umbridge said. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply, 'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' or 'No, Professor Umbridge'. So: has everybody got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory _by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang through the room.

"Good. Now, I should like you to turn to page five and read 'Chapter One, Basics for Beginners'. There will be no need to talk."

Umbridge left her post at the blackboard and settled herself in the chair behind the teacher's desk, observing them all carefully with her pouchy toad's eyes. Atlantis turned to page five and started reading.

It was incredibly dull, almost as boring as listening to the ghost professor. Madagascar groaned mentally. She'd read through several of the textbooks already, including this one, so she was stuck with nothing to do. Looking around the classroom, Madagascar suddenly noticed Hermione's hand in the air.

The girl was staring fixedly at Umbridge with her hand in the air, barely blinking. However, Umbridge was ignoring her. After a moment or two had passed the other students started to notice the silent stand-off, and as one or two barely audible confused mutters rent the air, Umbridge was finally forced to acknowledge the Gryffindor girl's presence.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" Professor Umbridge asked Hermione as if she'd just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," Hermione said.

"Well, we're reading just now," Professor Umbridge showed her small, unusually pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.

Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows. "And your name is?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully." Professor Umbridge's voice was so sweet, Harry felt himself getting a toothache.

"Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly. "There's nothing written up there about us _using _defensive spells."

Almost the whole class turned to frown at the three course aims still on the board.

"_Using _defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge laughed. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to _use_ a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr-?"

"Weasley," Ron clarified as threw his hand up in the air.

Umbridge smiled widely, and turned her back on him. Madagascar, Atlantis, Harry, Hermione and a few others also raised their hands. Umbridge's eyes rested on Harry for a few moments before she addressed Hermione, the presence of the transfer students not seeming to register.

"Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

"Yes," said Hermione. "Surely the whole point of Defence Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" Umbridge's voice was as diabetic-inducing as ever.

"No, but-"

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way-"

Harry interrupted, "What use is that? If we're going to be attacked, it won't be in a-"

"_Hand_, Mr Potter!" Professor Umbridge sang. Even though Harry thrust his fist into the air, Professor Umbridge turned away from him. But by now, several other people had their hands up.

"And your name is?" Professor Umbridge said to Dean.

"Dean Thomas."

"Well, Mr Thomas?"

"Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?" said Dean. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk free."

"I repeat, do you expect to be attacked during my classes?" Professor Umbridge smiled in an extremely irritating way at Dean.

"No, but-"

Professor Umbridge interrupted, "I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school, but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible in this class, very irresponsible indeed- not to mention," she gave a nasty little laugh, "extremely dangerous half-breeds."

"I've met Remus Lupin myself," England said, raising his hand, "and he is a very competent-" ***2**

"And you are?" Umbridge asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Arthur Kirkland, and-"

"_Hand_, Mr Kirkland. As I was saying before, you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day-"

"No, we haven't," Hermione said, "we just-"

"_Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!_"

Hermione put up her hand.

Umbridge turned away. "It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you."

"Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?" Dean protested hotly. "Mind you, we still learned loads."

"_Your hand is not up, Mr. Thomas!"_ Professor Umbridge trilled. "Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?" she added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up.

"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?"

"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them beforehand?" said Parvati, looking shocked. "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be _during_ our exam?"

"I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough-"

"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" Harry snapped, his hand in the air.

Umbridge looked up. "This is school, Mr Potter, not the real world," she said softly.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?"

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter."

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Madagascar and Atlantis interrupted.

"Nothing out there? You mean there's no reason for-"

"-us to be prepared because there's-"

"_nothing waiting out there_?"

Umbridge (and most of the other students, except for some of the nations) looked unnerved. "Hands, Misses-"

"Nataly Tsiranana."

"Celeste Duvange."

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" Umbridge's voice was horribly honeyed.

"Hmm, let's think… Maybe…_Lord Voldemort_?" Harry said, in a mock thoughtful voice.

Many of the students flinched or gasped in horror. Professor Umbridge, however, did not. But before she could say anything, some of the other transfer students flung their hands in the air.

"Even if Voldemort _hasn't_ come back, won't there still be danger out there? I mean, he isn't the only Dark wizard in existence ever, right?"

"What if Voldy's followers are still trying to bring him back?"

"He's still-"

Umbridge cut in. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter." She seemed to have ignored the nations' outbursts. "Now, let me make a few things quite plain." She leaned towards them, stubby-fingered hands splayed out on her desk. "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead-"

"He was only mostly dead," said Harry angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-house-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," Umbridge said in one breath, without looking at Harry. "As I was saying. You have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. _This is a lie._"

"It is NOT a lie!" exclaimed Harry. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr Potter!" exclaimed Umbridge, looking triumphant. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, _this is a lie_. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with lies about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading…"

***Unspecified timeskip***

"Hello, Miss Duvange. I was wondering, could you tell me about yourself?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling, deceivingly gentle.

Mentally bracing herself, Atlantis replied, "What would you like to know, Professor?"

"Where are you from?"

"Oh, well, I'm not sure. I was abandoned when I was a few years old, so I don't know."

"How do you know the other transfer students? You seem to be all different nationalities, yet you're very familiar with each other."

Atlantis swallowed slightly. Damn, she hadn't thought of that. "We're all… world representatives, so we've worked with each other many times." Well, it was mostly true. And why was she starting to feel a probing, tingly sensation…?

"I see. How did you come to be in this position?"

Atlantis began telling a complicated lie about the 'world representatives' appointments, mentally reminding herself to tell the others later. Meanwhile, Dumbledore was trying to get inside her head by using Legilimency, but no matter how hard he tried, her Occlumency shields were too strong. As a result, both of them were getting quite bad headaches. However, Dumbledore eventually managed to get flashes of her memories.

A few moments after this happened, Atlantis couldn't bear it, and started rubbing her forehead.

"Are you okay, my dear girl?" Dumbledore's eyes gleamed, all traces of twinkling gone. He looked slightly mad.

"Could I be excused? My head hurts."

"Certainly."

_One down, 38 to go, _Dumbledore thought. He grinned slightly, looking smug. Even though he hadn't been able to get inside her head completely, he'd still managed to get some of her memories. Now he only had to figure out what they meant…

***1 I know DADA was on the same day as Potions. And I know that they have different lessons, but just for the sake of the plot, let's imagine that the first lesson is with all of them, yes?****  
><strong>***2: Yes, I'm basically stealing some of the HP character's lines for the APH ones. It'd be really hard to fit them in otherwise.**

**Random note: You know how in Chapter 4 or so, I said that Harry, Neville and Ginny stared at Iggy weirdly? I forgot to mention this, but in my headcannon, the nations' accents change. Like, for instance, America. His accent can change from New York to Texas to… yeah, I think you get what I mean.**

**R&R!**


	8. Paranoia, Lies and Legilimency, Part 2

****Title: The Toad, the Wizard and the Nation****

**Chapter summary: Canada gets Legilimency'd (is that a word? [Beta note: I think it's actually Legilimized]) by Dumbledore, there's more of the Golden Trio and a cliffhanger.**

"Professor Dumbledore? You wanted to see me?" Canada was quite nervous. In fact, after Atlantis told them what had happened and England said that Dumbledore might have been using Legilimency, all the nations were worried. If Dumbledore found or even heard too many suspicious things, they could be exposed… and then what would they do?

Canada was brought out of his worried musing when Dumbledore peered at him suspiciously and asked, "Didn't I ask for Matthew Williams? What are you doing here, Alfred?"

Canada sighed inwardly. It was always like this. He'd either be ignored, or people would mistake him for America. "I _am_ Matthew Williams. Alfred's my twin," he explained.

"Er, sorry, Matthew," Dumbledore apologized, feeling slightly foolish. Really, the two boys didn't look _that_ much alike; he couldn't understand how he'd mistaken them. Then his tone turned businesslike. "Do sit down. Lemon drop?"

"N-no thanks, eh." Canada was unnerved by the quick personality flip.

"Very well." Dumbledore popped the lemon drop in his mouth and scrutinized the boy in front of him. He was holding a polar bear- interesting choice of pet, but who was he to judge?- was wearing glasses, had light blond hair… nothing special, really, except for maybe that one long curl. What was with that?

Dumbledore was shaken out of his thoughts when the polar bear said, "Who?"

"Be quiet, Kumaji!" Matthew seemed flustered.

"Who?"

"Kirojumi!"

"Who?" The bear was insistent.

Matthew hid his face in the bear's fur, and murmured something softly. Dumbledore couldn't hear what it was. The bear nodded, seeming to calm down.

"So, Matthew. I understand that you are related to Alfred. Why are your surnames different?" Dumbledore began his interrogation.

"Yes. Our parents are… divorced, eh. That's why."

"How do you know the other transfer students?"

"I met Arthur and Francis first. You could say that they're… father figures for me. I also meet the others at World Conferences, so I got to know them after a while."

Dumbledore frowned slightly before he proceeded onto his next question. "You are all 'world representatives', correct? So where do you represent?"

"I represent Canada, eh, while Alfred represents America."

"Ah, but if you're related, wouldn't it make more sense for you to represent the same places together?"

Dumbledore smiled, thinking that he had Matthew in a corner. He was sure that the transfer students were hiding something much more momentous than world representatives. Sadly, he hadn't figured it out yet; he either had to get more memories or have one of the students tell him. Since the students weren't likely to give up their secret willingly- and Dumbledore's pride wouldn't let him ask anyway- he would continue interviewing and using Legilimency on them.

"No, we were separated when we were young; Al moved to the States and I moved to Canada, eh. We were, erm, _reunited_ a few years ago, actually."****1**

While Matthew had been explaining, Dumbledore decided to use Legilimency. Meeting with more resistance than he had expected, Dumbledore was caught off track when Matthew asked, "Professor, may I go now? I think I have-"

Suddenly, both Legilimens and Occlumens felt a sharp pain. Flashes of emotions, of memories, danced past their eyes.

Red, pain, blue, white, anger, sorrow. Two blond boys playing together. A taller blond with green eyes looking proud. Then fire and searing pain. A loud, chaotic meeting room, followed by a feeling of being ignored.

"I-I have to go, eh. Sorry." Canada hurried out of the room, feeling shaken. Once outside, he nation-stepped to his dorm, not caring if Dumbledore saw.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, massaging his head after a loud _*crack*_ outside the door. These memories were clearer than the girl's had been, which had consisted of pain- incredible pain- and noise, a feeling of hopelessness and water all around. Dumbledore wasn't sure what to make of them, though, besides the fact the water seemed to be part of a disaster, so he focused on figuring out Matthew's memories.

Two blond boys- that should be him and his brother. They did look quite young… although Dumbledore didn't think that any of them were telling him the whole truth, if any of it. The young blond man looked like Arthur; Matthew did say that he was a bit of a father figure for him. But they looked so close in age… and the ship Arthur had been standing in front of was flying a genuine pirate flag. Could they have a Philosopher's stone? If that was true and Arthur _had_ been a pirate, Dumbledore would have to keep an especial eye on him. Could that be it? No, surely it was something bigger… or else it wouldn't have been _that_ particular person… ***1**

In the Gryffindor common room, the Golden Trio jumped. A sharp crack, not unlike the sound of Apparation, echoed from upstairs. ***2**

"What was that?" Ron exclaimed.

Harry stared at the staircase leading to the boy's dormitories. "It sounded like somebody Apparating…" he said slowly.

"B-but you _can't_ Apparate in Hogwarts!" said Hermione, looking frantic and a bit angry that someone dared to suggest something that went against her Holy Bi- er, that is, _Hogwarts, A History_. "There are wards and all sorts of things to prevent that happening!"

"I dunno, 'Mione, maybe we should check it out," Ron suggested, giving her a weirded out sidelong glance.

Hermione blushed slightly, but nodded. "Come on, Harry."

The three walked up the stairs to the door with a sign that read, "Transfer Students". Knocking on the door, quiet rustling sounds could be heard. Hermione opened the door slightly and called out: "H-hello?"

Canada jumped, rubbing his eyes slightly. It wasn't that he cried a lot, usually, but the memories that were brought up…

When Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the room, one of the last things they expected to see was a transfer student crying. (And the huge mess on one side of the room. Because, honestly, you _cannot_ have that many male nations (or males in general) in the same room together and _not_ have a mess somewhere. But that's irrelevant. Oh, and forgive me for breaking the Fourth Wall here.)

"W-what's wrong?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Nothing!" The boy- who looked a lot like Alfred, Harry noted, but sounded and acted completely different- exclaimed, a little too quickly.

"Really? You look like you were crying, mate," Ron said thoughtfully, not pausing to think. Hermione immediately stepped on his foot.

"Who?" At that moment, a white polar bear popped up behind the boy. Hermione screamed, Ron looked pale and Harry practically hit the ceiling, he jumped so high.

"Not now, Kuroshima!" hissed Canada, glancing warily at the three students.

"Who?" Kumajiro insisted.

Sighing, Canada gave up. "I'm Canada- dian, eh… and my name is, erm, Matthew Williams," he added. He didn't want to make the other three suspicious, but 'Kimajitsu' was so _insistent_…

"E-excuse me, um, Matthew, but why did your polar bear…" Harry was lost for words.

"Ask for identification?" The boy's smile was surprisingly bitter, and it changed him. He looked… wise, as if he had seen and done a lot of things in his lifetime. Harry had seen Dumbledore smile somewhat like that, but nowhere near as bitter.

Harry nodded. Ron and Hermione also looked curious. Matthew sighed and patted Kumajiro. "Well, you know Alfred, right?" The Golden Trio nodded. "Well, he's my twin brother, eh." Identical looks of surprise and understanding flashed across Harry and Hermione's faces, while Ron merely looked confused.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Ron wanted to know.

"He gets mixed up with Alfred, so Kuma- Kimo- er, his bear asks who he is!" Hermione hissed, looking annoyed.

Ron looked abashed. "Er, sorry," he offered.

Matthew sighed. "It's okay, I'm used to it." He let go of Kumajiro when he realized that the bear was trying to wriggle free. "Anyways, what are you three doing here? It should still be dinner…" Canada trailed off, hoping to distract them. It worked.

"The other students are talking about what Harry said yesterday in DADA," Hermione explained, looking indignant on her friend's behalf.

Ron didn't look all that pleased either. "Yeah, it got on our nerves, so we left and went to the Common Room," he added.

"Then we heard someone Apparate and went to investigate, but it was only you," Harry finished in quiet voice. Suddenly, the dorm room flew open, accompanied by a loud crashing noise.

****1:** Once again, Dumbledore's plan is ruined XD Canada _did _have time to prepare his story, you know… by the way, the double asterisk (******) means that it's a not-really-important side note. ._.

***1:** Dumbly's referring to the letter he got that informed him that the nations were coming. The one mentioned in the previous chappie. _Buuuut_, I ain't spilling who the mysterious official is yet.

***2:**Screw the timeline. Most events will happen, but they'll be spaced out. Just a note for those OCD people out there who pounce on any 'mistakes'…

**AN:**Yes, I'm being evil and putting up a cliffhanger. (And at the end of a short-ish chapter, too!) This will hopefully drive you crazy and make you review. Reviewing makes me update faster, so:

**R&R**


	9. Interlude: Please Pass This On

The administrators of are as of June 4th going to be taking down Fics that have lemons or have extreme violence. Now I don't know about you but I think thats stupid. There are many wonderful fics that only have one or two lemons in them yet the plot itself is awesome! You can't just take down a 100,000+ word fic just because it has a lemon in a chapter that is only 1000 words long. Now I urge you all to read the petition below, sign it, and repost this to your own fics. Hopefully if we make enough noise everything will return to normal. Thank you.

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

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	10. Natural Disasters

**Title: The Toad, the Wizard, and the Nation**

**Chapter Title: Natural Disasters**

**AN: Shorter chapter than usual this time, everyone. I'm sorry ;w;  
><strong>**There's a bunch of reasons (okay, _one_ reason/excuse) at the bottom as to why this chapter is being uploaded on the last days of 2012 when this was written sometime in August. Also, I didn't do as much research as I should've for this chapter, so that's more fail to add to my ever-growing list. One more thing; this currently unbeta'd, since I was more focused on actually putting this chapter up.**

**31/12/2012 (haha, last day of the year xD): Beta'd version has been uploaded! (Also, is it just me, or have the previous "beta version is now uploaded" notes said 2011...?)**

**On to the story!**

* * *

><p>"Yo Cana- hey what are you guys doing here?"<p>

Hermione was slightly disoriented. She'd never heard anyone speak this fast before, especially not when said speaker was munching on a _hamburger_, of all things. Harry and Ron looked similarly confused, but Matthew just replied calmly, as if he was used to it. "They heard a loud noise, but they didn't see anything weird, eh. I'm assuming they checked in here in case there was anything. My meeting with Dumbledore wasn't exa-"

He was abruptly cut off by Ron, who hadn't heard anything past 'loud' and had been staring, dumbfounded, at the loud American. "Where'd you get that hamburger?" he asked.

"Hahaha, sorry dude, that's top secret American information," Alfred grinned.

"Um… so… we should really be getting back to our own dorms…" Harry said hesitantly. He still wasn't sure whether he could trust these transfers. That on top of Draco's suspicious acts, Harry was becoming more and more paranoid. Just then, another person stepped into the room behind Alfred- it was Nataly, or 'Maddie' as he'd heard her being called.

The room seemed to grow tense with atmostphere. The Golden Trio began inching out of the room, not missing how pale all the transfers' faces seemed to be.

She held out a scroll tied with a purple ribbon to Alfred, holding a similar one in her hand. "It's from Dumbledore."

"He did _what_?!" both America and Madagascar yelled. Since it was too soon to call yet another meeting (and it would look too suspicious if they all disappeared a second time), Canada was recounting his experiences (albeit hesitantly) to an enraged Madagascar and America.

"I told you, he tried to use Legilimency and some stuff just slipped out-"

"Oh gods… Matthew, do you know what this means?" Madagascar said, dark brown eyes large with worry. Not giving Canada a chance to respond, she said, "It means we can't really defend ourselves against him."

Stunned silence greeted her words as they slowly sank in. Even Kumajiro remained silent.

"Well then, the hero will just help us all!"

_THWACK._

* * *

><p>"Hmm, I vonder vhat this is." Russia hummed, standing outside the Transfiguration classroom.<p>

The second-year stammered, "It's a message from Headmaster Dumbledore to you and Natalia." She fled, not wanting to be near the intimidating transfer student.

"What is that, Brother Ru- Vanya?"

Belarus sprang out of seemingly nowhere, grabbing one of the scrolls. Russia suppressed a shudder. Even though he loved his sister (as a sister and part of his family, _not _as someone he wished to marry), she still scared him.

"I don't know," he replied, opening his own scroll. Inside, in neat handwriting, were the words:

_Dear Ivan Braginsky,_

_I would like to ask you and your fellow Slytherin, Natalia Arlovskaya, a few questions about yourselves after dinner tomorrow. I am curious as to why you and your companions would come to Hogwarts._

_Professor Dumbledore_

_P.S. I enjoy gummy bears._

Russia was momentarily confused at that last line. Fortunately, he recalled someone mentioning that Dumbledore's passwords were always different kinds of (usually "Muggle") candy, so that must have been it.

"Vanya! Are you okay?" Belarus was looking at him with concern.

"Da, Natalia, I am fine." For once, she wasn't trying to get him to marry her. Russia smiled at her, relieved but still a little wary.

"In that case, let's get married~"

Maybe he spoke a little too soon.

* * *

><p>The next day, America had an annoying headache, due to Madagascar whacking him on the head with her magician's staff (which she still used, just not in class).<p>

"Hello, _Alfred_." America looked up quickly. Damn. Right in front of him, smiling oh-so-happily, was a certain (ex)Communist. A very irritating one at that.

Whispers quickly broke out among the other students in the Great Hall. A _Slytherin_, even one of the transfers, going over to the _Gryffindor _table? And having a (seemingly) civil conversation? Unbelievable!

Somehow, none of the Gryffindors had managed to catch the undertone of deep dislike in Russia's voice. However, they did manage to spot America's (though they didn't know it) dark scowl, strange on the nation's usually cheerful face.

"Go away, commie bastard." America really didn't want to have to deal with Russia on top of his goddamn headache. Who knew Madagascar could hit that hard?

"But I just want to talk to you, capitalist pig." Russia was smiling the whole time, although there was a hint of menace in his words this time. Over at the Ravenclaw table, China muttered, "Ai ya, not this again, aru!" Several other nations heard him and rolled their eyes in agreement, while the students merely looked confused.

"Why? Do you want another Cold War?" America stood up suddenly, vaguely aware of Madagascar whispering that he should just "Sit down and Ru- Ivan will leave." He didn't care anymore, feeling furious for no apparent reason, his headache worse than ever.

Russia continued smiling condescendingly. America saw red. "Well you just-"

"_Stupefy!_"

"_Petrificus Totalus!_"

The two spells hit both America and Russia at the same time, Russia freezing and America being knocked back into his seat.

Belarus immediately rushed over to Russia. "Vanya! Brother! Are you all right?" she asked, repeating her words from the day before.

"Finite Incantem." A soft, almost feminine, voice behind Belarus said, Russia swaying slightly from suddenly being released from the spell.

"I will find out who did it Brother, and-"

"I know who did it." Russia interrupted her, striding back to the Slytherin table to get his things.

* * *

><p>~Meanwhile~<p>

* * *

><p>"Oh gods, Alfred! <em>Enervate! <em>I didn't mean to hit you so hard with the spell, I'm sorry-"

"Hey, it's okay, Mads." America said, slightly groggily, picking up his textbooks. Madagascar still looked worried. He grinned reassuringly. "I'm fine, I mean, I _am _the hero!"

Madagascar laughed lightly. "Yeah, I guess." But then her tone turned serious. "Alfred, you know that we have to be careful. You can't just go and talk about the Cold War where anyone could hear!" Madagascar whispered, even though she was using his human name. Where America was concerned, you could never be too careful.

"Ten points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin!" McGonagall's crisp voice rang through the hall. All the teachers looked unnerved, Dumbledore included (although he tried to hide it). The speed and ferocity of the fight, as well as how fast it had apparently ended had shocked all of the teachers, especially Dumbledore. 'I must find out what they are up to,' he thought. 'And what was that about a war?' Clearing his throat, he motioned to the two Gryffindors. "Since you're here anyway, why don't the two of you come to my office?"

Neither Madagascar nor America refused, though they both looked unhappy at the thought. However, as they were leaving the hall, the color drained out of Madagascar's face and she collapsed. "Mads!" America yelled, shocked. The dark haired nation murmured something, too softly to be heard.

"Oh dear. Come with me to Madam Pomfrey, we'll get you fixed up right away," Professor Sprout tutted. America picked up Madagascar easily and followed Professor Sprout to the Infirmary, looking anxiously at the nation in his arms every now and then.

"Hmm. Well, since those two are currently unavailable, how would you two…" Dumbledore trailed off mid-sentence, noticing how the Russian and Belarusian were conversing. The Russian- Ivan Braginsky, was it?- looked slightly worried, annoyed and fearful at the same time, while Natalia- that was the Belarusian's name- looked angry, disappointed and relieved. A strange mix of emotions, Dumbledore mused.

While all of this was happening, a certain toadlike witch was frantically writing a report to send to the Ministry- more specifically, Cornelius Fudge.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2: Okay, here's the main reason I didn't publish this chapter until now;<strong>

**I dropped my iPod in the sink.**

**Really, that's about it. Plus the fact that I was writing all of this on my iPod until now, and I didn't think I'd backed it up... then there was the writer's block. (I'm using my phone to write at the moment, but it has a limit of only 1500 characters…)**

**Maybe I'll get the next chapter out sometime in the next six months; maybe not. And I'm not going to keep asking you guys to review, although the fact that people did review (thank you to everyone who did, or followed, or favorited, by the way) were the reasons I even bothered uploading this to FF at all. Thanks, everyone.**


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